As I mentioned in the “My Life” post, I’ve always been a sucker for wistful rap songs and even though when it was released I was probably too young to grasp the full sense of nostalgia, Ahmad’s “Back in the Day,” remained one of my favorite mid-90s rap singles. Ahmad pretty much fell off of the face of the earth after his one hit but today’s LA Times has a really interesting article about the South Central rapper’s life post-”Back in the Day” and how he’s wound up at Stanford with a full ride and the goal of one day receiving a PhD in social work. It’s a great story, one that’s particularly heartwarming considering most tales of one-hit-wonders in the music industry usually wind up with some interpolation of the phrase, “Cocaine is a hell of a drug.”
Download:
MP3: Ahmad-”Back in Day (Jeep Mix)”
8 comments
DocZeus says:
August 19, 2008 at 10:57 am (UTC -7)
I always loved “Back In The Day.”
Vincent says:
August 19, 2008 at 12:31 pm (UTC -7)
Great story…and all this time I thought he lived in England.
Nate Jones says:
August 19, 2008 at 12:35 pm (UTC -7)
Great story. Thanks for the song link. I’ve been listening to it all morning.
Berto says:
August 19, 2008 at 2:29 pm (UTC -7)
Haven’t heard of him, but this is a great song. I’ll check for more, although I’m not sure if I could handle him inflecting his voice seemingly at random for an entire album.
Hamilton says:
August 19, 2008 at 2:44 pm (UTC -7)
Great story, good music. This is why you blog man.
Slav says:
August 19, 2008 at 5:11 pm (UTC -7)
This is as throwback as throwback gets, lol.
herohill says:
August 20, 2008 at 4:03 am (UTC -7)
I always thought Jump Up Touch the Ceiling was the jam. I loved that Funk Doobiest sample he tossed in.
Elyse says:
August 21, 2008 at 3:07 am (UTC -7)
I recorded this song off the radio with my first casette stereo! I had a version of the lyrics that I would sing to my dog Petey. Good memories.